Track Listing
1. Lookin' for a Reason
2. Don't Look Now
3. Lodi
4. My Baby Left Me
5. Hello Mary Lou
6. Ramble Tamble
7. Cotton Fields
8. Before You Accuse Me
9. Wrote a Song for Everyone
10. Ooby Dooby
11. Cross-Tie Walker
12. Lookin' Out My Back Door
13. Need Someone to Hold
14. Tearin' Up the Country P
15. It's Just a Thought
| Details | | Producer: | John Fogerty | | Distributor: | Ryko Distribution | | Recording Type: | Studio | | Recording Mode: | Stereo | | SPAR Code: | n/a |
Album Notes
Creedence Clearwater Revival: John Fogerty (vocals, guitar); Tom Fogerty (guitar); Stu Cook (bass); Doug Clifford (drums).
Recorded in 1981. Includes liner notes by Hoyt Axton.
Personnel: John Fogerty (vocals, guitar); Doug Clifford, Stu Cook (drums).
Audio Remasterer: George Horn.
Liner Note Author: Hoyt Axton.
Arranger: John Fogerty.
As the title implies, this collection rounds up Creedence Clearwater Revival's most country-tinged tunes. However, many of these songs, recorded between 1969 and 1972, are "country" only in their rural themes, since CCR was always a no-frills rock & roll band above anything else. "Lookin' for a Reason" bears the familiar twang of a classic country tune, with frontman John Fogerty turning his powerful voice into a laconic drawl, but most of the tracks here feature CCR's dirt-road blend of blues, R&B, and fierce guitar-driven rock. This trademark sound is well represented by key CCR tracks such as the galloping "Don't Look Now," the weary "Lodi," and the day-dreamy "Looking Out My Back Door." In addition, CREEDENCE COUNTRY also features a handful of songs from latter-day albums PENDULUM and MARDI GRAS as bonus tracks, including the organ-drenched "It's Just a Thought" and two songs ("Need Someone to Hold" and "Tearin' Up the Country") with vocals by drummer Doug Clifford.
It could be argued that Creedence Clearwater Revival were the greatest American rock & roll band, and one convincing argument would be that no other of their peers had such a commanding grasp on a variety of American music and could synthesize them in such a bracingly original fashion. It's that synthesis that makes a genre-specific compilation like Creedence Country so difficult to pull off -- it's hard to single out one strand from that mix, particularly since CCR didn't so much perform country as absorb its influence. In fact, only a handful of songs could be appropriately classified as "country" -- the slow-crawling opener "Lookin' for a Reason," the peerless lament "Lodi," the similarly heartbroken "Wrote a Song for Everyone," maybe the bouncy "Lookin' Out My Back Door," which can sound like the streets of Bakersfield, and perhaps their driving cover of Leadbelly's "Cotton Fields," which winds up as rock & roll. The rest of it is either flat-out rockabilly, whether it's a cover of "My Baby Left Me" or John Fogerty's "Don't Look Now," or flat-out rock & roll like "Cross-Tie Walker" -- and it's hard to believe that anybody could call the elongated, menacing jam of "Ramble Tamble" country. That said, it's a thoroughly enjoyable listen, since nearly all the music is excellent, but it doesn't really present any insight into the band -- it's just a good mixtape. [Ironically, it's a mixtape that was hurt by the inclusion of bonus tracks in its 2004 expanded reissue. Three bonus tracks were added to the end of the album -- the best is Fogerty's "It's Just a Thought," a solid album track from Pendulum, but it's preceded by two awful Doug Clifford-sung selections from that album that may be closer to purer country than anything on the proper Creedence Country album, but they're nowhere near as good as what came before. It doesn't ruin the collection, but it does wound it. Also, the credits on the back cover have not been updated; they fail to note that Tom Fogerty doesn't play on two of the bonus cuts and John Fogerty doesn't sing lead on two of them.] ~ Stephen Thomas Erlewine
Editorial Reviews
3 Stars - Good - ...Fogerty's twisted, gravelly vocals and the band's trucking guitar interplay shown in fully inspired form...
Q (01/01/1993)
| See an error? Submit a change request |
![Creedence Country [Bonus Tracks] by Creedence Clearwater Revival (CD, Apr-2004, Fantasy distributor)](http://i3.ebayimg.com/03/c/01/9f/f6/e0_7.JPG "Creedence Country [Bonus Tracks] by Creedence Clearwater Revival (CD, Apr-2004, Fantasy distributor)")
![Creedence Country [Bonus Tracks] by Creedence Clearwater Revival (CD, Apr-2004, Fantasy distributor)](http://i3.ebayimg.com/03/c/01/9f/f6/e0_32.JPG "Creedence Country [Bonus Tracks] by Creedence Clearwater Revival (CD, Apr-2004, Fantasy distributor)")
All rights reserved.
